But to brighten it up, I received some great links to share. Here’s one from my friend and great new blogger, Coin Laundry, who gave me a shout out and left some very nice comments here.
ScentedNectar video blogs on her own YouTube channel and sent me this link to her latest. She describes her first defianc "activism" as a very young child in a traditional synagogue. She touched a Torah scroll! I feel like there a song in there just waiting to be composed.
Finally, I’m now reading Prof. Lawrence Krauss’s book, “A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather than Nothing.” He decided to write the book after seeing the incredible response to his YouTube video which has well over one million views and counting.
It is a science-y book that purposely seeks to deal a body blow to theistic thinking. Grabbing a line from the late Carl Saga, Krauss says, “Forget Jesus, the stars died so you could be born.” Luckily for the mathematically challenged, formulas are expressed in every day language, making this a highly accessible work.
Here is the YouTube video that inspired the book:
Hi Rabbi,
ReplyDeleteI plan on reading this book after I finish Hitchen's "God is not great" and Dawkin's "The god delusion". Having read these books, watching debates, and reading different bloggers perspectives like yours, it has made me very comfortable and in many ways has kept me in great mental shape. I wanted to ask you your advice and starting my own blog, trying to help those who grew up like I did. I'm just not sure how to write about my past as a frum/ orthodox kid without attacking the movement completely.
I'm also very interested in checking out the Humanistic Judaism chapter in San Diego, though I feel as a result to cognitive dissonance or just plain confusion, I can't see why chagim and simchas are celebrated when they all come from the torah or rabbinical sages. I enjoy many of the holidays, but I guess having been raised with the orthodox approach and strict observance to them, I'm not sure where to draw the line between of lets say not eating chametz on passover but driving and doing other secular things. Any advice is appreciated.
Hi: Congratulations on beginning your own blog. I'm sure that you will find a way to disagree with ideas and harmful actions without attacking every believer. It can be a fine line, especially when you see people who are hurting others on orders from God, but it's helpful to remember all the good people you know in the frum world who are just living their lives and happy for others to do so as well. Of course, you may find that they think you're "attacking" them, too. But it's possible to have a debate about ideas with reasonable, modern people without getting personal.
ReplyDeleteAs for the idea of why we Humanistic Jews celebrate rabbinical holidays, it helps to have a broad historical perspective. Until modern times very little in human culture was invented without reference to the supernatural world. We know from Jewish history that ancient agricultural holidays were transformed into a Jewish narrative. Passover, for example, was probably two agricultural holidays (Chag Hamatzot and Chag Hapasach), that originated separately and were probably dedicated to more than one god. Over time they merged and the mythos of the exodus was attached. Simultaneously, Yahweh was consolidated out of many gods and, voila, Passover. Then come the rabbis who try to make sense out of both what people actually do and what they interpreted the (now canonized) text commanding them to do.
If we are to be part of that stream, we will then examine their rituals and celebrations and adapt them to our modern Jewish needs. Reform and Conservative Jews do this all the time. We do it, too, but without a theistic overlay. So we retell the story of the exodus on erev Pesach and add whatever meaning and interpretations we can, right alongside stating that we're aware it's a mythos. Personally, I eat matza throughout the week because it gives me some sense of continuity. I don't clean or avoid chametz because it's not meaningful to me as a modern, secular person. I find that I make decisions much as I did as a Reform Jew, but with less fear about issues of continuity. If a ritual or observance is meaningful to our culture, it will be preserved. If it's more about rules and superstition it will ultimately be left to the superstitious.
It's easier for me, of course, because I don't come from an Orthodox background. I grew up seeing what was meaningful to my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents - all of whom were secular Jews who did Jewish things. This informs me and gives me a comfort level with it all. Best of luck to you!!!